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Book Review: Magnus Chase and The Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #2) by Rick Riordan

Title: Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #2)

Author: Rick Riordan

Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Mythology

Description: Thor’s hammer is missing again. The thunder god has a disturbing habit of misplacing his weapon – the mightiest force in the Nine Worlds. But this time the hammer isn’t just lost, it has fallen into enemy hands. If Magnus Chase and his friends can’t retrieve the hammer quickly, the mortal worlds will be defenseless against an onslaught of giants. Ragnarok will begin. The Nine Worlds will burn. Unfortunately, the only person who can broker a deal for the hammer’s return is the gods’ worst enemy, Loki – and the price he wants is very high […]

Rating: ★★★★★

Disclaimer: Review contains spoilers

I’ve probably said this before but I’m going to say it again, I don’t think Rick Riordan will ever write a book I won’t love. It’s surprising because I love every character in this book (well maybe except Randolph and Hearthstone’s father). Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series in general is probably my favourite Riordan series. There’s just something about the Norse mythology that I just really love. And the characters within this novel are just phenomenal.

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more. The minute it arrived I started reading it and I found it really hard to put down. Magnus Chase is such a wonderful, and funny character that I find myself actually laughing out loud. I love especially that Riordan explores Magnus in a way that he has to change his way of thinking, especially when it comes to new character Alex Fierro.

All of the characters in this book are so diverse and so well written that I just want to recommend it to everyone I ever meet. And I don’t care that technically Riordan’s books are aimed at “children” I love his style of writing. I love how easy it is to dive into the universe he’s created and explore this wonderful world. I’m not going to lie I did picture certain characters from the Thor movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universebut seriously I cannot fault this series, this book. It’s easily one of my favourites.

I want to thank Riordan especially for the character of Alex Fierro, who was the first canon genderfluid character I have ever read in a book. It was such an amazing feeling to have this representation in one of my favourite series. A character like me (explained more in my previous blog post). It is very rare to find a genderfluid / non-binary character in fiction so to have this character who appears and immediately reveals themselves as genderfluid and transgender really warmed my heart. It’s the representation that I really needed. And to have Alex written so beautifully I could thank Rick more. On page 270 of my version of the book Alex says “I identify as female, but sometimes I have very male days,” and I just want to thank Riordan for this line. I can’t speak for every genderfluid person but I connected to Alex’s character on such a deep level. Yes our genders are slightly different as mine is fluid between female and agender. But much like Alex this is how my gender is. I feel mostly agender but sometimes I have female days.

I love how this book just flat out tells you not to trust Loki no matter what he’s always got something up his sleeve and even then there’s probably something else hiding up there. Yet the characters seem to forget this and it’s so funny and shocking when Loki reveals a twist to the original plan. All of the Norse characters are so wonderfully diverse as well I love how funny and dramatic Thor is. I’m glad that we got to see Sif. And how different she is compared to her husband Thor.

I’m really happy that Riordan decided to divulge Hearthstone’s backstory, and explained exactly what a brutal life he lived. There were moments where I wanted to some how enter the book’s universe and kill his father. Because poor Hearthstone needs to be protected and his father needs to suffer. Hearthstone’s childhood was so awful it was worse than I could imagine. I hate how his father hated him not just for being deaf but he also hated him because he blamed Hearthstone for his mother and brother’s death and it’s just awful. #JusticeForHearthstone.

Can we just talk about that ending? I’M YELLING. How dare you end it on a cliffhanger like this. Here I was thinking that I still had 100 pages or something left to go. I turn the page and it says “Glossary”. It’s 1:00am and I’m here trying not to do the reenactment of the scene from Silver Linings Playbook where Bradley Cooper’s character throws his book out the window. I’m going to suffer for a year. A YEAR. I was thinking as Annabeth made an appearance that Magnus and Percy really need to meet up and the last line was “I think it’s time you met Percy” I expected to turn the page and they’d be talking about Percy’s pen sword. And how Magnus doesn’t like the colour blue. I feel betrayed.